


Iron Beyond Gotham

by AivaRoyal



Series: Marvel One-Shots and Stories [4]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics), Iron Man (Comics), Iron Man - All Media Types, Marvel (Comics)
Genre: Bruce Banner & Tony Stark Friendship, Bruce Wayne & Tony Stark Friendship, Bruce Wayne is Batman, Bruce's Parents Dying Is Shown, Cosmic Treadmill, Dick Grayson is Nightwing, I Mention So Many Characters, If They Don't Appear Physically They Aren't Tagged, Jason Todd is Dead, Murder Mystery, No Romance, Non-Graphic Violence, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Speed Force, Time Travel, Untagged Villain for Plot Purposes, buddy cop
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-11
Updated: 2019-05-11
Packaged: 2020-02-29 22:31:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18787558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AivaRoyal/pseuds/AivaRoyal
Summary: A buddy-cop murder mystery that unites two genius rich boys with fancy suits from different realities.





	Iron Beyond Gotham

“Why are you doing this? You look rich! Surely you don’t need the money?”

“You are very right, Mr. Wayne. I don’t. What I do need will come much later.”

“That glove. That technology hasn’t even been invent-” Thomas’s last words were cut short by a white beam firing through his chest.

“Funny. It seems very invented to me.”

“Thomas! No!”

“Hurts my heart to see a widow. I’d much rather see an orphan.”

Another white beam, this time at Martha. “Bruce… Bru-”

“M-mom? D-d-dad? Why?”

“One day you’ll thank me for this. Here, I’ll leave my card so you can do it in person.” A white business card floated down from his hand and laid at rest partially in the pool of blood coming out of Thomas’s body.

* * *

 

Bruce’s head was buried in his hands. The massive monitor in front of him was cycling through his Rogues Gallery. Some were in Arkham. Some were loose. Some were dead. Not a single one had the name on the card. Not a single one had ever heard of them.

“Sir, are you going to sit down here all day? You’ve been over these people hundreds of times.”

“I have arrested and or identified over a hundred criminals, and not a single one have ever heard of this person.”

“Have you made any breakthroughs on figuring out the technology used?”

“No. Visually it was closest to Dr. Light but he wasn’t active until much later.”

Near the top of the monitor, Light’s portrait drifted by with a faint red x over it.

Noticing the portrait, Alfred commented, “It’s a good thing too, because it’d be rather difficult to ask him now.”

The wall of faces disappeared and was replaced by the video cam of the front door.

Jay Garrick looked into the camera and yelled,

“Bruce, it’s me. We need to talk.”

Alfred escorted Jay down into the Batcave and Bruce stood up to shake his hand.

“Jay, it’s been a minute.”

“The Society keeps me pretty busy, but I want to talk to you about something.”

“What?” Jay turned to look at the display cabinet that held various items Bruce had acquired. On the top shelf was a stand with a white business card.

“I don’t know if it will work, but me and Ray have an idea about the card.”

Bruce’s eyes lit up and he turned towards the card and then back to Jay. “You do?”

“What if we could send you back in time to that night, so you could ask the man directly?”

“No, seriously. What’s the plan?”

“Bruce. I am serious. Using the Speed Force, me and Ray think we can do it.”

“What happens if you’re wrong?”

“We wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

Bruce stepped away and focused on the card. Years of fighting crime, and this is the closest he’s ever come.

“Let’s try it.”

* * *

 

“Are you sure about this, Bruce?”

“That doesn’t matter, Ray. I have to find out.”

“You ready, Jay?”

“I’ve never tried to use the Speed Force to time travel, but god I hope this works.”

“Jay, prepare the Cosmic Treadmill.”

“Ready.”

“Bruce?”

“Go for it.”

“Jay, you’re clear to run.”

The Speed Force being transferred through the Treadmill was causing the room to shake, and before long Bruce couldn’t see or hear anything but it. The plan was to send him back, and he’d be there for 30 minutes, and then come back. Though it would be instantaneous for Jay and Ray.

* * *

 

Bruce landed on a roof, and after rolling over the bright neon of the sign in front of him started to come into focus. “M-Mon-Monarch. Monarch. Monarch! I’m here.”

He ran over to the edge of the building and he could see down into the alley. He watched a couple and their child turn and start walking into it and he hid. Another figure emerged from the darkness.

“I want everything you’ve got.”

Bruce wanted to intervene, but he knew he can’t. He just has to wait until the man flees, and then maybe he’d be able to-

"Funny it seems very invented to me.”

He had watched his dad die, a second time. Then, his mom…

“One day you’ll thank me for this. Here, I’ll leave my card so you can do it in person.”

The man walked past the bodies, dropping his card. Then exited the alley. Bruce jumped across to the next rooftop and then off the side landing directly in front of the man.

“Who are you!?”

The man’s face was still shrouded in darkness but the white light was once again focusing in his hand.

“I can’t wait until you find out.”

The shot fired, but Bruce’s thirty minutes were up. The Speed Force pulled him back in as Jay once more charged the Treadmill, except Bruce exited in the middle of a city. It wasn’t Gotham, but it looked familiar. Disoriented from the trip, he staggered around a second. He looked down and there was no blast mark. He had been saved just in time, but something was wrong.

* * *

 

“A man, in a Bat costume?”

“Yes.”

“Just appeared out of a whole in the sky.”

“Yes.”

“In Central Park.”

“Yes.”

“Jarvis, is this some thinly veiled attempt at humor?”

“As much as I wish it was, sir, no. It is true.”

Tony could see the figure stumbling around and he wasn’t sure if they were a new villain or a new hero, but he made it his mission to know who was who. “Excuse me sir, sir in the bat costume.”

Bruce looked up at the robot floating above him that was reflecting the sun into his eyes. “Who the hell are you?”

Tony landed on the ground and now Bruce realized the robot itself was red and it wasn’t just a reflection.

Bruce’s rage at being ripped away before he could identify the man was replaced with confusion as he tried to figure out what he was looking at. “Are you a new version of the Red Tornado?”

“Am I a what who now?”

“Red Tornado? The android?”

“No. I do not know who that is.”

Now Bruce was very confused, because it did kind of look like the Red Tornado.

“My turn. Who are you?”

“Me? You don’t know who I am?”

“No, it was a rhetorical question. Yes you. I keep a log of every known metahuman or otherwise caped vigilante and you are not on it.”

“I am the symbol of fear and justice in Gotham.”

“Gotham? Never heard of it.”

“What the hell do you mean you’ve never heard of Gotham? Do they not teach Geography in schools anymore?”

"I want to know how you don’t know who I am.”

“Easy, I don’t. I also keep tabs on metahumans and I’ve never heard of you either.”

“I am Iron Man.”

“Really? Iron Man?”

“You’ve heard of me?”

“No, that’s just a surprisingly stupid name. Your suit isn’t even made out iron.”

“That’s fair I guess. What do they call you? Brooding Darkness?”

“Batman.”

“Can you repeat that?”

“Bat.”

“Yeah.”

“Man.”

“And you want to come after me for being called Iron Man?”

“Look, let’s get to the point.”

“I agree. What is the point.”

Pulling the blood stained card out of his pocket, Bruce decided to take this opportunity to ask about the man. “Do you know anyone named Anthony Stark?”

“As a matter fact, I do.”

Bruce was suddenly filled with a hope he hadn’t had in years. “Really? Where is he?”

“You have found him.”

“Where?”

“Here. Me. Although Tony is what I’m called in general.”

Suddenly all the hope Bruce had drained out and his rage re-emerged. “You!?”

“You seem rather confused. Did you not expect to find me so easily?”

“You’re Anthony Stark!?”

Tony flipped up the mask to reveal his face. “Well, I’m not a robot sweetie.”

Seeing his face, confusion re-emerged in Bruce mixing with anger. This man was younger than him, but the name was right. “You can’t be him. You’re too young.”

“Not a compliment I get often.”

“What is your father’s name?”

“Howard. Howard Stark.”

“What was his middle name.”

“Howard Anthony Walter Stark, but I’m not sure why that matters.”

“Your father. Anthony Stark.”

“My father was Howard Stark. Nobody called him Anthony as long as he lived.”

“He was in Gotham that night!”

“I don't even know where Gotham is!”

“Your father killed my parents!”

Tony gritted his teeth. He remembered the last time someone blamed his father for ruining their life, and Vanko gave his life for that vendetta. “What year did your parents die?”

“1980.”

“That would have been… 39 years ago? My father was retired. He wasn’t working with SHIELD, the military, or anyone. He couldn’t have killed anyone.”

“He stopped us in an alley, and fired a beam through my dad’s chest. Then my mom’s.”

“My father did not have murder beams, and he certainly didn’t go around murdering people in alleys. So I suggest you think very carefully about what you say next.”

“I kneeled over my parents as they bled onto the concrete in that alley. He turned and walked away and where he were standing there was a business card that said, “Stark Industries. CEO Anthony Stark.”

“I think we need to straighten something out here.”

Cracking his knuckles, Bruce replied, “Yes, I think we do.”

“My dad’s business cards said Howard. Only mine say Anthony. My dad did not murder innocent people, and I was a year old when this happened so I’m damn sure I wasn’t CEO then. So you must be mistaken, because everything you’re saying is impossible.”

“Do you want to dig up my parents and ask them that?”

“What year is it now?”

“2019.”

“Where do you claim this all happened?”

“Gotham City.”

“What state is it in?”

“New Jersey.”

“What city are we in?”

“I’m not sure, but it looks like New York, and if you don’t get to a point very soon I’m going to get much angrier.”

Tony started thinking to himself about trying to figure out some way to definitively prove whether or not this man was crazy. “Name five active superheroes.”

“Superman, The Flash, The Atom, Aquaman, Constantine.”

Nothing this man said made any sense to Tony and none of the people or cities he was listing existed as far as he was aware.

“What is the predominate peace keeping force of superheroes?”

“The Justice League of America.”

“Not the Avengers?”

“Who the hell are the Avengers?”

“Who the hell are the Justice League! That’s my point!”

“A team I helped found. What about the Justice Society?”

“The who? What about the X-Men?”

“I don’t know of them. The Titans?”

“Like from Greek mythology?”

“Never mind. Martian Manhunter? Cyborg?”

“Thor, the Hulk, Namor, Black Panther?”

“Supergirl, Hourman, Dr. Fate?”

“Captain America? Captain Britain?”

“Captain Marvel?”

“YES. You know Captain Marvel?”

“I do. He’s on the Justice League.”

“Wait, he?”

“Yeah? Billy?”

“Not Carol?”

“Carol?”

“Goddammit. Look, Mr. Bat I’m sorry your parents are dead but I don’t know anything you are talking about and I don’t even think your from the same reality that I am.”

Bruce couldn’t wrap his head around it. Tony is too young, but he swears it couldn’t have been his dad. Neither of them have heard of any of these people. It honestly would make sense if they were from different realities, but who was wrong? “What if… we are.”

“Honestly that wouldn’t be the strangest thing I’ve heard today.”

“There are two things we need to figure out.”

“There are a lot more than that. We’ve been standing in the middle of a park screaming at each other for about half an hour.”

“Am I in your reality, or are you in mine?”

“That, is actually a great question. You said you come from Gotham, New Jersey?”

“Yes.”

“Jarvis, can you route me a way to Gotham, New Jersey?”

“Who is Jarvis?”

“My suit. Give me a second.”

Bruce muttered under his breath with mild confusion, “He named his suit?”

“I’m sorry sir, but there does not seem to be a Gotham located in New Jersey.”

“Your suit must be broken, or just stupid.”

“I’ll pretend you didn’t say that, man that dresses like a bat.”

“Well, where do you live?”

“Avengers Tower, downtown NYC.”

“Yeah, sure. See if your suit can find that.”

“Now routing path for Avengers Tower. The fastest way is 8 minutes by flight, or 24 by car.”

“Call a car. I think we need some more time to talk about this.”

* * *

 

Tony turned to Banner in the lab. “So, Bruce. What do you think?”

Batman looked very confused and asked “how do you know my name?”

Tony, looking equally confused, turned back to Batman. “Wait, your name is Bruce?”

Batman sighed because if he was in an alternate reality his secret identity didn’t really mean much anyway. “Bruce Wayne.”

Banner turned to him. “I’m Bruce Banner, or the Hulk, sometimes.”

“Great. That won’t get confusing.”

“Sir, I propose calling Bruce and Bruce by their last names for the time being.”

“Well you two? Jarvis has a point.”

Wayne turned to Tony extremely confused. “I thought you said Jarvis was your suit?”

“No. Jarvis is the AI that runs my suit. And this facility.”

Banner interjected, “This card that Wayne has is from our reality, but the blood does not match anyone, living or dead.”

Wayne turned to Tony very slowly, and Tony immediately tried to calm him down.

“That doesn’t mean that me or my dad killed your parents. For all we know it could have been planted. Furthermore we still don’t know how you got here.”

“When they used the Cosmic Treadmill and Speed Force to send me back to the past they said I would be there for thirty minutes and then they would bring me back, but for them, it would have been almost instant.”

Banner and Tony looked at eachother. “Cosmic Treadmill?” “Speed Force?”

Dismissing them, Wayne described the confrontation. “I jumped in front of the guy as he was leaving the alley and he said something about he couldn’t wait until I figured out who he was and then they activated the Treadmill to bring me home, but he fired the beam at me at the same time.”

Banner started trying to work through it in his head. “Nothing like this treadmill or force your talking about exists in our reality that I’m aware of. Though, the principle being that the card allowed you to travel in time to somewhere else it existed might make sense here. If the beam he fired was produced by something originating in our reality it might have influenced your “speed force” to drop you into our reality but at the same time you should have landed in yours.”

Wayne thought about it for a second. “It’s kind of like a venn diagram. On the left side is my world, the right is yours. When I went back to the past using the Speed Force it was pure energy from my world, but the beam provided energy from yours so on the return trip I basically slipped through to the other side of the diagram.”

Tony plopped down into a chair and looked up at Banner and Wayne. “Wayne, that is the only thing you have told me since you arrived that makes sense. Now we just need to figure out who our mystery man is, and then how to send you home.”

Banner and Wayne looked at eachother. “Agreed.”

**Author's Note:**

> Originally I wanted to write this as Batman breaking into Marvel and slaying a bunch of people, but I kept restructuring it trying to find a viable way to get him there and somehow ended up here.
> 
> I don't actually know how the Cosmic Treadmill and Speed Force work, but I know they're actual things so I'm using them anyway.


End file.
